Sunday, 5 June 2011

Escorted off the premises

For the first time in my life I was escorted off the premises.

We were in this really nice beer garden in a park a bit west of the city centre. I was taking lots of photos because it was so nice. Then someone behind one of the food counters started shouting at me "Loeschen, loeschen" OK, I thought, he wants me to erase the photo of him. So I did. Then he told me to erase all my photos of the beer garden I erased a couple and went back and sat down.

Then the boss came and told me I had to show him all the photos I'd taken and erase them, even the ones that were just of my beer. He threatened to call the police if I didn't. Even the one of the entrance, taken from the street. He claimed that it was all private property and I couldn't take any photos. He followed me out onto the street shouting insults at me.

Un-fucking-believable. It's like the Vondel park, with a beer garden just in one corner. It's the most unpleasant experience I've ever had in a pub. And the only time I've ever been thrown out.

I've taken photos in thousands of pubs. I've never had that reaction before.So aggressive and threatening. He said it was Hausbruch and I was breaking the law - is that true? What a total twat. I had been going to give the place a really good write up.

The joke is that I'd taken loads of video that he didn't notice.

Afterwards we went to the LoewenbraeuKeller and I asked the waiter if I was allowed to take photos. He looked at me like I was an idiot for asking: "Selbstverstaendlich" he said.

It seems he didn't want any photos taken anywhere in the garden, no matter what they contained. Though how on earth you can enforce that when there are a couple of thousand customers, I don't understand.

I have some "business cards" printed up with the blog's name on them as big as possible, and try to ask permission of someone behind the bar to take pics, handing over one of the cards at the same time, so they get the idea that their pub will be receiving some free publicity - although at very busy times it's not always possible to do that.

However, I now use an "evil" (electronic viewfinder, in-line lens) camera, with a rotating back screen, which makes it possible to take good pics without having to hold the camera up to your eye, thus making it a lot less obvious that you're snapping away.

All the same, that particular guy does sound a prat - did he think you were from a rival bar business, or the local authority?

What a bummer. I was there in May and we had a great experience. I have pictures of the deer and other critters to prove it.

On the way out, we were looking at the smaller kegs that had been unloaded from the beer truck, and their cellarman invited us into their walk-in to see the really big ones. So we sort of had the opposite experience.

Though I guess any place that seats 8,000 will have a lot of employees, and odds are at least a few of them will be jitbags.

A search on Google Images for "Hirschgarten beer garden" gets nearly four thousand results which means either he was talking bollocks or a lot of people have been threatened with having their collar felt.

Wow, that's disappointing. Not sure how much legal recourse the person really had, but also wonder what they had to hide. My other disappointment was based on the title... I was half expecting to hear how many "Doppelhopf" you enjoyed at Friedel -- not that you seem to be the kind of fellow to let himself drink too much and be escorted off though.

Too bad for them they won't be getting a grand review on the site which I tell everyone to visit before they head out to Europe.

Ah! I think there may be some cultural differences at work here. Much the same as the offence that is usually caused by an English man calling a German a Nazi because of something unpleasant s/he may have done.

Of European nations I think people living in Germany often have the strongest opinions about photographs, even in (and of) public places. Just look how much harder a time Google Street view had there. That said technically it's illegal to take a photo on a Dutch train station. In the UK there are plenty of places the police will harass you for taking photos too.

Ron, it's a bit dissappointing to me that the first time in your life you were shown the door was because of taking a few pictures! Not even for slapping one of the barmen, swearing, spilling beer or other such misdemeanours! Anyway, Hirschgarten now off my list for Munich.

Taking pictures in a biergarten is burglary and against German law? There aren't enough cells in Germany to contain all the tourists who photograph Kneipen, Lokalen, Bierkellers, Biergartens etc.I strongly suspect this guy has mental health issues....I'm in Munich for a fornight soon, and these people can stick my business up their arse. (And I spend a lot of money on beer when I'm in Bavaria). Nutters

Ridiculous. I was in the Hirschgarten last October and took plenty of pictures. Nobody seemed to mind. In fact you can see them on my blog. I really don't know why they'd care. Maybe it was just this one server with a hair across his arse about having his photo taken.